A National Audit Office report has concluded that two programmes aimed at building capacity in the third sector have had a positive impact on frontline third sector organisations but have not yet demonstrated value for money. Both have suffered from administrative weaknesses and a lack of initial targets against which the effectiveness of the programmes could be measured. The ChangeUp and Futurebuilders programmes were launched in 2004.
By C Otto Scharmer
In three segments, “Shifting the Social Field,” “Facing Three Enemies,” and “A 12-Step Presencing Practice,” Scharmer introduces the social technology of presencing to management and management science. The learning and change theories that guide leaders’ actions are based on reflecting on past experience. But the complex challenges facing us today require a new form of learning – one that connects us to the emerging future.
Read more on THEORY U – LEADING FROM THE FUTURE AS IT EMERGES…
By Thomas M. Tripp, Robert J. Bies
The authors educate employees and managers about the right and wrong ways to deal with workplace conflict, specifically revenge. They have amassed dozens of lively stories, insights and counter-intuitive truths to bring to the book. Not only will managers and employees find this information useful and entertaining, but most readers will find applications in their home lives as well as in their work lives.
Read more on GETTING EVEN: THE TRUTH ABOUT WORKPLACE REVENGE…
By John Seddon
The author dissects the changes that have been made in a range of services, including housing benefits, social care and policing. His descriptions beggar belief, though they would be funnier if it wasn’t taxpayer’s money that was wasted.
By George B. Bradt, Jayme A. Check, and Jorge E. Pedraza
The authors provide a valuable resource for new leaders in any organization. They start with what needs to be done before taking on a new post. Then follows the 100 days action plan which involves finding out the expectations of people higher up the management chain and stakeholders. A big issue is deciding how to respond to the culture of the organization.
By Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan
The power in this book stems from using the Three Laws of Performance. A law isn’t a rule, tip, or step, but distinguishes the moving parts at play behind an observable phenomenon. A law is invariable. Whether you believe in gravity or not doesn’t lessen its effect on you.
Read more on THE THREE LAWS OF PERFORMANCE: REWRITING THE FUTURE OF Y0UR ORGANISATION AND YOUR LIFE…
This report from Communities and Local Government assess the impact of policies over the 1998-2007 period in raising the performance of local government.
It sets out the levels of improvement since 2001, the external and internal influences on improvement, the barriers to improvement and the implications of the analysis for future local government policies.
This report from the National Audit Office is based on research across central government, but it has messages for all public service procurement.
Contract management is not given the priority it deserves. There is often no one individual with overall responsibility for contract management across an organization. There are few documented plans for managing individual contracts and in over a quarter of cases where plans did exist, supplier input was limited. There is a lack of structured training programmes and few contract managers hold any formal commercial qualification, for example, membership of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.
Read more on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT’S MANGEMENT OF SERVICE CONTRACTS…
The evaluation of the Local Government Modernisation Agenda by Communities and Local Government includes an assessment of the impact on community leadership and stakeholder engagement of the 20-plus policies that followed the 1998 and 2001 white papers.
By Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan
When a hurricane warning is announced, everyone’s concerns and actions become focused on that expectation; the hurricane essentially becomes the future which people are “living into.” Similarly, when an organization needs to transform or make the leap to a higher level, everyone involved should be “living into” the vision of the organization’s new, improved future. But in the majority of organizations, the future people are living into is based on past performance and experience, and so major transformation is almost impossible.